The lone regiment is the Second Prussian regiment of the guard, the emperor's own, the elite of the Kaiser's army, 2,500 of the brawniest, most disciplined men in the world.

When social division of function has produced and armed a military elite, leadership turns to this elite in any emergency arising from natural disaster or social crisis.

They were separated from one another by geographic, ethnic, ideological and political barriers which were intensified by tradition, custom, migration, and the competitive struggles among the elite for pelf and power.